Binay scores Duterte’s ‘selective’ killings

UNITED Nationalist Alliance (UNA) standard-bearer and Vice President Jejomar Binay on Friday scored Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte for “selective” killing, preying only on poor criminals who did not have the ability to fight back or get even.

“You kill kids and siblings with impunity. You can only kill poor people because you know that they cannot fight back. That’s why you cannot kill rich people because you know they are able to face you squarely,” Binay said in a statement.

The UNA bet also assailed Duterte for taking the role of an “executioner” rather than someone who can promise to improve the lives of poor Filipinos.

“Mr. Executioner, I am a pro-life person and what I do is to improve the lives of poor people. But you, you kill poor Filipinos,” Binay said.

The Vice President was reacting to Duterte’s statement calling the issue of extra-judicial killings, including children, “recycled garbage.”

Binay reminded Duterte of his previous statements admitting his links to the Davao Death Squad (DDS), and that he had killed 1,700 people or 700 more than what was reported by Amnesty International.

The Vice President earlier took Duterte to task for killing children, referring to siblings Richard Alia (18 years old), Christopher Alia (17 years old) and Bobby Alia (14), who were reportedly executed by the DDS in 2001 and 2002, respectively.

Several human rights groups have linked Duterte to extra-judicial killings, including a
report from the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Philip Alston.

In his report to the UN Human Rights Council in 2009, Alston said that Duterte “has done nothing to prevent these killings, and his public comments suggest that he is, in fact, supportive” of them.

Furthermore, the Human Rights Watch earlier denounced the more than 1,000 killings committed by the DDS since the late 1990s.

“Until the government adopts a zero tolerance attitude toward public officials who publicly endorse extra-judicial killings as an acceptable approach to governance, Duterte and others like him will pose a grave danger to the safety of the citizens they are elected to protect,” HRW Asia Division Deputy Director Phelim Kine said.

1 Comment

Guni guni mo lang yan, Binay. Takot ka kasi sa “justice” ! You like the notion of being able to circumvent the law. Just look at yourself during the recent debate? You wanted to go around Comelec’s rules, inisted in your ways and delayed the whole proceeding by 2 hrs, all because it’s “mas maganda”! People who do not do anything bad should not be afraid!